A moment comes in everyone’s yoga practice when it just becomes seamless. It’s a magical moment when you go into the flow. You stop thinking, you stop wanting, you stop attaining, you stop pushing. You enter some cosmic groove and you don’t even ride the waves. You are the waves, and the rhythm that abides and dissolves into nothingness. I know this probably sounds like one of those mystics who are describing the “zone” as an effortless “presencing” of you, and all of creation.

It almost took me 25 years to get there, but today, as I embark into my daily practice, I feel that groove. I go through similar moves, but I am free to improvise within the set structure, and that freedom allows me to explore all possibilities of smooth transitioning. It gives me the liberty to create new possibilities on the spot, not only asana, but new perspectives and new spaces. Only because, I allowed my yoga practice to become a “play-space.” And that playspace is so thrilling and nurturing.

I don’t worry about form anymore. I am not trying to fit into shapes or copy someone else’s alignment and poise. My creativity fashions the practice in the most authentic way. Lately, I have transferred this expanded creativity and curious exploration into my classes. I come as an empty slate. I try not to repeat the same warm-up or do the sequencing that I am comfortable with. Instead, I challenge myself on the spot to create a unique experience that reflects the needs of all the students. This is risky territory, trust me… And you should never venture there, until you have fully liberated your personal practice from the from those “musts”, and “should”. Mind you, you are still adhering to the structuring principles, but you are daring to be creative, and to test what works and what doesn’t. If a teacher never experiences this kind of freedom in designing classes, he/she will never transcend the mainstream yoga to break the conventional format.

But there within the unconventional pool of possibilities lies the true power of Yoga. You have to be able to set yourself free, to give yourself permission to discover new ways of movement, of breathing; new options of ordering, new ways of translating the ancient wisdom to modern needs. It’s a new way of practicing that is actually rather old, because it its initial state Yoga was an art transferred from teacher to student. And the teacher did not only impose tools and poses, he listened to the student’s needs and he resonated with those needs. Why the class has become so formatted today, I still can’t gather. I think it’s partly because teachers don’t feel comfortable to work outside of their comfort zones. They learn the tricks of the trade, they acquire the knowledge and are ready to teach the tools. And that’s awesome. But only if they venture outside the sealed practice, can they really experience full freedom of creation. A lot of them argue that yoga is a regimen, that you are not allowed to change it, that you need to preserve it and never innovate it.

I tend to disagree with that. My personal practice has proven that Yoga is that space of limitless expansion when you free up your spirit to find its most authentic expression. That is for me the seamless groove.  That curve of the yoga journey when the higher and the lower self wed!

Advanced Yoga Routine: Seamless Groove

This routine takes the seasoned yogi into a seamless groove of organic flow. It offers an organic sequencing that unravels like a mala of poses and dissolves into a garland of breaths. It is poetry in motion and teaches the advanced practitioner how to transition safely, efficiently and beautifully.